Happy New Years from Your Friends at Morbid Anatomy

Happy New Years and bonne année to all of you, on this, the last day before we ring in the final year of the Mayan calendar.

All images found here.

Vanitas Drawing Featuring Real Human Skeleton, With Classically Trained Artist Lado Pochkhua: Observatory, 6 Mondays Beginning Jan. 9

We have a new art class beginning on Monday, January 9th that I am very very excited about. Lado Pochkhua, an accomplished classically trained artist from Eastern Europe (see following bio) and artist in residence at our sister space Proteus Gowanus will, using a variety of artifacts drawn from The Morbid Anatomy Library, teach students to create and draw their own “vanitas”--or mortality-themed still life--compositions. The main star of said Vanitas composition will be the genuine human skeleton recently donated to the library, which you can see in the photograph above.

Full details follow; this is sure to be a awfully terrific class. Hope very much to see you there!

Vanitas Drawing Class with Classically Trained Artist Lado Pochkhua
Date: 6 Mondays, January 9th through February 13th
(Jan. 9, Jan. 16, Jan. 23, Jan. 30, Feb. 6 & Feb. 13)
Time: 7:30-10:00 PM
Admission: $110 (classes can also be taken individually on a drop-in basis for $20 per class)
*** This class has a 10 person size limit; Please RSVP for full course at morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com
This class is part of the Morbid Anatomy Art Academy

Vanitas is a genre of still-life painting that flourished in the Netherlands in the early 17th century. A vanitas painting contains collections of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures, exhorting the viewer to consider mortality and to repent.

This Vanitas course will comprise six drawing lessons in which, using artifacts drawn from The Morbid Anatomy Library, students will learn how to create and draw their own “vanitas” composition. The ultimate goal of the class will be not only the creation of this particular drawing, but also understanding of the principles of classical drawing. The instructor will also share historical images throughout the course.

No previous drawing experience necessary; all levels are welcome!

MATERIALS
Please bring with you to class:

• One drawing pad at least 18" X 20" with a firm back; paper Fabriano or Arches, or Strathmore 400
• Pencil: HB, 2B, 4B, simple graphite pencils, (no charcoal !!!)
• Eraser

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Lado Pochkhua was born in Sukhumi, Georgia in 1970. He received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Tbilisi State Art Academy in Georgia in 2001. He currently divides his time between New York and Tbilisi, Georgia.

Selected Exhibitions:

• 2011 “Works from the Creamer Street Studio,” at the Literature Museum, Tbilisi Georgia (solo show)
• 2010 “Paradise ” at Proteus Gowanus, New York
• 2009 “Prague Biennale 4,” Georgian pavilion
• 2009 “The Art of returning Home,” Arsi Gallery, Tbilisi Georgia (solo show)
• 2008 Gardens, Ships, and Lessons, K. Petrys Ház Gallery, Budapest, Hungary (solo show) Exhibition of Georgian Artists, Festival OFF EUROPA ditorei Gallerie NBL, Leipzig, Germany
• 2004 Artists of Georgia, Georgian Embassy, London, UK
• 2003 Curriculum Vitae: a retrospective of 20th century Georgian art, Caravasla Tbilisi History Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia, Waiting for the Barbarians, Gallery Club 22, Tbilisi, Georgia (solo show)
• 2001 21 Georgian Artists, UNESCO, Paris, France
• 1998 Magical Geometry, TMS Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia (solo show)

There is a 10 person limit for this class; you can sign up by sending an email to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com. This class is one of the newest installments in the series newly termed The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy; to find out more about that--including a full class list thus far--click here.

Images: Top image: Still-Life with a Skull, "Vanitas" by Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674) via Wikimedia; Bottom image: Skeleton from The Morbid Anatomy Library who will be featured in our Vanitas compositions

Happy Holidays from Starewicz, Stop Motion Insects, and Morbid Anatomy

The Insects' Christmas (1913)
Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa (original title)
A Father Christmas ornament climbs down from a decorated tree, and goes to the forest. There he creates and decorates a Christmas tree for the forest creatures. He then invites all the insects, along with a friendly frog, to come and enjoy the gifts he has prepared, and to celebrate Christmas. Written by Snow Leopard

Found via my former intern Laetecia; Text via IMDB.

Mel Gordon on The Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror: Episode 8 of The Midnight Archive!

Episode eight of The Midnight Archive--the web-based documentary series centered around Observatory--has just been uploaded and can be viewed above. This episode is one I am personally very excited about; it is based on the work of my all-time favorite rogue-scholar Mel Gordon, specifically on his research into The Grand Guignol as explored in his classic Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror. It was shot in The Morbid Anatomy Library the night of his recent Observatory lecture on the same topic and features dozens of amazing images and even film footage (!!!) of a circa 1960s Grand Guignol performance, as well as a fascinating conversation with Mel Gordon. Check it out (highly recommended!) by hitting play above, or by clicking here.

Film maker Ronni Thomas--the creator of The Midnight Archive--has this to say about The Grand Guignol:

I have to admit - before i began this whole thing - i had no idea what the Grand Guignol theater was... I was raised on a magnificent diet of blood and gore as a kid. (For Christ's sake - i gave up my career as an adjunct professor to work for less than minimum wage at Troma films...) But - as always - the unsung bastard of this artform was a sleazy theatre in paris where eyes were gouged out - faces were burnt off - and torturous agony was displayed before some of the wealthiest and most affluent aristocrats while visiting the fabulous city of blights... (lights). In this episode - Mel Gordon - the man who LITERALLY wrote the book on the Grand Guignol gives us a brief explanation of what it was and what it meant to society, the world and all those other things i could care less about... I knew nothing about the theater before i started this as i've stated - and i've learned about 3 minutes more than that as i hope you will... enjoy... and please consider chopping up your neighbor as a fun tribute.

For more on the series, to see former episodes, or to sign up for the mailing list so as to be alerted to future uploads, visit The Midnight Archive website by clicking here. You can also "like" it on Facebook--and thus be alerted--by clicking here.

The Cultural History of 3D! "Oddities" Launch Party! Holiday Fair! Tonight and Beyond at Observatory

This week and beyond at Observatory: A cultural history of 3D in 3D! Holiday Fair! "Oddities" marathon and season launch party! And a score of amazing new art classes comprising the newly launched Morbid Anatomy Art Academy! Hope to see you at one or more of these terrific events.

The Missing Dimension: A Cultural History of 3D Images - Anaglyphs, Stereographs, View-Masters, Holograms, and Flaming Arrows Coming Right at You!
Illustrated lecture on and in 3D (glasses provided) by artist and NYU Professor Chris Muller
Date: TONIGHT Tuesday, December 13th
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

An overview of the development of three-dimensional images, from the first recognition of the stereoscopic function of our two eyes in ancient times, to Charles Wheatstone's explanation of binocular vision and his creation of the stereoscope in 1838, and the flood of three dimensional images that followed the invention of photography. We'll look at the stereograph viewer developed by Oliver Wendell Holmes that was in every Victorian parlor, the View-Master in every baby boomer's childhood bedroom, red and green anaglyph printing that allowed comic book characters to pop off the page, and the strange story of the development of 3D film. The unique pleasures of the 3D image will be celebrated, and its persistent failure to become the Next Step in photography and film discussed. The lecture will be illustrated entirely and gratuitously in 3D, with glasses provided to all comers.

Chris Muller is an artist and exhibit designer based in Brooklyn. He has designed exhibits for the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum for African Art, the Children's Museum of Manhattan, and many others. He has designed sets for Laurie Anderson, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, the Atlantic Theater Company, and others. He teaches drawing and digital painting at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Image: Image by Chris Muller

“Oddities” Marathon and Season Launch Party
Screening of TV's "Oddities" followed by after party with MC Lord Whimsy, giveaways, special drinks, and DJ
Date: Saturday, December 17th
Time: 8:00
Admission: $8
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

On Saturday, December 17th, you are cordially invited to join Morbid Anatomy and Observatory as we gather to celebrate the new season launch of "Oddities," that unlikely hit of a television series based on our favorite purveyor of curious and amazing artifacts, Obscura Antiques and Oddities in New York City's East village.

The evenings festivities will include the screening of several new episodes of "Oddities," special drinks and music by Friese Undine, and give-ways by Kikkerland and Obscura Antiques. The always charming Lord Whimsy will oversee the evening in his role of Master of Ceremonies, and members of the cast of "Oddities" will be on hand for questions and comments.

To find out more about the show, check out http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/oddities.

Hope very much to see you there!

2011 Morbid Anatomy and Observatory Holiday Fair
Holiday fair with multiple vendors serving your alternative holiday needs including taxidermy, miniature insect tableaux and more
Dates: Saturday, December 17 & Sunday, December 18
Time: Noon - 6:00 PM
Admission: Free
Free beer courtesy of our sponsor Brooklyn Brewery

Please join us on December 17th and 18th for a holiday fair presented in conjunction with partner spaces Proteus Gowanus and Morbid Anatomy. Here you will find such covetables as steampunk jewlery, anatomical blocks, macabre drawings, ceramic reliquary bat heads, wet specimens, photographs, and books, books and more books, all to music DJed by Lado Pochkhua and washed down with beer provided by our sponsor Brooklyn Brewery. This will be the perfect place to purchase unique, niche, and off-the-beaten-path gifts for those hard-to-please folks on your shopping list! Hope to see you there.

Image: Crocheted Skulls by Dewey Decimal Crafts, a featured seller at last year's fair. More of her work can be found here.

And more upcoming:

• Anthropomorphic Chick Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: ***SOLD OUT; send email to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com to be added to mailing list; December 20

JANUARY

• CLASS: Dissection as Studio Practice: Lecture and Studio Art Class with artist Laura Splan *** Class size is limited; Must RSVP to morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com; January 8
• Vanitas Drawing Class with Classically Trained Artist Lado Pochkhua (class 1 of 6); January 9
• January 10: Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Back by Popular Demand. ***SOLD OUT; send email to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com to be added to mailing list
• Gabba Gabba Hey! Ramones Night at Observatory: A screening of End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones out-takes and Q&A with filmmakers Jim Fields, Michael Gramaglia and John Gramaglia; January 13
• UFOs, Ghosts, Monsters and the Afterlife: “UFO Hunters”' Bill Birnes on the Supernatural: A night with William Burns of TV’s UFO Hunters and Ancient Aliens, introduced and moderated by Ronni Thomas of The Midnight Archive; January 20
• Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Back by Popular Demand. ***SOLD OUT; send email to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com to be added to mailing list; January 24
• The Search for Granny-Dump Mountain: Illustrated lecture by Journalist Justin Nobel; January 26
• Class: Mummification: Learn the art and ritual of animal mummification with instructor Sorceress Cagliastro *** Limited Class Size; Please RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com; January 29

FEBRUARY

• PERFORMANCE: Buried Alive! A Matchbox Theatre: A matchbox theatre performance by Deborah Kaufmann; February 2 and 3rd
• Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Special Valentine's Day Edition! ***SOLD OUT; send email to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com to be added to mailing list; February 14
• Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Back by Popular Demand. ***SOLD OUT; send email to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com to be added to mailing list; February 21:

MARCH

• Dissection and Drawing Workshop with Real Anatomical Specimenswith physical anthropologist Samuel Strong Dunlap, PhD *** Class size is limited; Must RSVP to morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com; March 17
• Carbon Dust Drawing Workshop, Featuring Real Anatomical Specimens with Board Certified Medical Illustrator Marie Dauenheimer, MA, CMI *** Class size is limited; Must RSVP to morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com; March 18:

You can find out more and get directions to Observatory by clicking here. You can join the Observatory Facebook group by clicking here.

Morbid Anatomy and Observatory Holiday Fair, THIS WEEKEND December 17th and 18th

This weekend, why not come by The Morbid Anatomy Library for the second annual Morbid Anatomy and Observatory Second Annual Holiday Fair? Just a few things you will find here: anatomical blocks, macabre drawings, taxidermy, tableaux, ceramic reliquary bat heads, wet specimens, photographs, tons of books, and much, much more! You will also find free beer complements of our sponsor Brooklyn Brewery.

Full details follow; Hope very much to see you there.

2011 Morbid Anatomy and Observatory Holiday Fair
Holiday fair with multiple vendors serving your alternative holiday needs including taxidermy, miniature insect tableaux and more
Dates: Saturday, December 17 & Sunday, December 18
Time: Noon - 6:00 PM
Admission: Free
Free beer courtesy of our sponsor Brooklyn Brewery

Please join us on December 17th and 18th for a holiday fair presented in conjunction with partner spaces Proteus Gowanus and Observatory. Here you will find such covetables as steampunk jewelry, anatomical blocks, macabre drawings, ceramic reliquary bat heads, wet specimens, photographs, and books, books and more books, all to music DJed by Lado Pochkhua and washed down with beer provided by our sponsor Brooklyn Brewery. This will be the perfect place to purchase unique, niche, and off-the-beaten-path gifts for those hard-to-please folks on your shopping list! Hope to see you there.

For directions, click here. To see some press coverage of the fair, click here, here, and here.

Image: Crocheted Skulls by Dewey Decimal Crafts, a featured seller at last year's fair. More of her work can be found here.

Grand Guignol Spectacular in The Huffington Post!

NEW YORK CITY -- When the rides stop running at Coney Island each year in October, the area takes on a desolate and decidedly creepy character. That's all fine and well with the Coney Island Museum, which on Saturday night hosted the Grand Guignol Variety Show, an homage to the eponymous Parisian production that specialized in theatrical gore, sex and violence from 1897 to 1962.

The event, co-sponsored by the Morbid Anatomy Library and Atlas Obscura, featured two original plays from the Grand Guignol's golden era. They give a sense of what the theater was like in its heyday: In one, a spurned woman mutilates her former fiance with sulphuric acid, only to meet the same fate at his hand. In another, a man's unrequited love for the wife of his closest friend drives him to cast a hypnotist's spell on her. When she's tragically killed in a train crash, the spell's power remains. Disfigured and grotesque, she returns from beyond the grave to be at his side. Horrified, he kills himself...
--"Coney Island Museum Hosts Creepy Homage To Victorian Horror Theater," The Huffington Post, Rachel Tepper

Read the whole article--a review of Saturday's Grand Guingol Variety Show--in today's Huffington Post by clicking here. Please be indulgent when you read my quotes, keeping in mind that it was my birthday and I had had a few drinks by the time this interview took place...

All images are from the slide-show linked to the article and depict, from top to bottom:

1. MC Lord Whimsy with the cast of The Strange Case of Me Tarzan directed by G F Newland: Nick Demko-Pavese and the "bathing beauties" Megan Fitzpatrick, Rachel Rideout, Christine Colby and Lady Aye
2. Christine Colby in her Skeleton Dance costume
   
3. Mentalist Les Baird doing one of his amazing feats with a volunteer from the audience
   
4. Scene from L’Amant de la Morte (The Lover of the Dead), original Grand Guignol script from 1925 directed by Melissa Roth
5. Scene from Baiser dans la nuit (The Final Kiss), original Grand Guignol script from 1912, directed by Meg Moseley
6. Shot of the crowd thronging the gin bar, featuring cameos of Melissa Milgrom, Eric Bobelin, Aaron Beebe, and lots of unfamiliar faces

Grand Guignol Spectacular Reprise with Macabre Muppets

Thanks so very very much to all you who came out to either a) perform in, or b) attend last night's amazing Grand Guignol Spectacular. It was very truly the best birthday ever, and I am still reeling from how many amazing performances I saw, and how many delicious drinks I partook of. Next year, someone simply must do a cover of this under-known Muppet Show segment from 1978, written by Shel Silverstein (!!!) and sung by Marisa Berenson, my favorite when I was a little girl, included above for your convenience.

Thanks again, and see you next time!

Tonight!! The Grand Guignol Spectacular: An Evening of Victorian Variety, Macabre Merriment, and Horror Live on Stage!

Tonight! At the Coney Island Museum! Very much hope to see you there!

Grand Guignol Variety Show at The Coney Island Museum
Featuring classic Grand Guignol performances, film, toy theatre, song, dance, film and more, followed by a DJed after-party
Date: Saturday, December 10th
Time: 8:00 (doors at 7)
Admission: $25 (tickets available here)
Location: The Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn
Presented by Morbid Anatomy, Atlas Obscura and The Coney Island Museum and curated by Joanna Ebenstein & John Del Gaudio

From turn-of-the-century Paris through the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear with infamous productions featuring innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society, making it the progenitor of today’s blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking “splatter” films.

Join us on December 10th at the Coney Island Museum for a one-night-only ode to The Grand Guignol and its legacy. Our evening of variety theatre was developed in conversation with Mel Gordon, author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror; Participants will include Doll Parts, Meg Moseley, GF Newland, Melissa Roth, Shannon Taggart, Alison Termine, Ronni Thomas, and Kathleen Kennedy Tobin and the role of Master or Ceremonies filled by Lord Whimsy. Projects include stagings of two classic Grand Guignol plays, a toy theater version of Bryusov’s “The Sisters,” a harmonious and creepy rendition of “Dry Bones,” and more, all followed by an after-party with music and Hendrick’s Gin cocktails courtesy of Friese Undine.

More here.

Secret Science Club 6th-Annual “Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest, Tonight at The Bell House!

Tonight! Hope to see you there.

Calling All Creatures . . . The Secret Science Club presents the 6th-annual "Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest"
Friday, December 9
8 PM @ the Bell House
$7

Just in time for the holidays . . . the beasts are back!

The Secret Science Club presents the 6th-annual “Carnivorous Nights TAXIDERMY CONTEST,” Friday, December 9, 8 pm @ the Bell House, $7

Calling all science geeks, nature freaks, and rogue geniuses! Your stuffed squirrel got game? Got a beaver in your brownstone? Bring your beloved beast to the Bell House and enter it to win!

Eligible to enter: Taxidermy (bought, found, or homemade), biological oddities, articulated skeletons, skulls, jarred specimens—and beyond, way beyond.

Show off your moose head, snake skeleton, rabbit relics, and other amazing specimens. Compete for prizes and glory. Share your taxidermy (and its tale) with the world.

The contest will be judged by our panel of savage taxidermy enthusiasts, including Robert Marbury of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists and feline wrangler Dorian Devins, co-founder and curator of the Secret Science Club.

Plus!
--Groove to furry tunes & video
--See an illustrated lecture on (yes!) taxidermy
--Imbibe ferocious specialty drinks! (They’ll bring out the animal in you.)

Entrants: Contact secretscienceclub@gmail.com to pre-register.

Spectators: Don’t miss a beastly second of this wild night!

Tickets: Advance tickets are available for purchase here.

This fiercely special edition of the Secret Science Club meets Friday, December 9 @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Subway: F or G to 4th Ave; R to 9th St. Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. $7 cover.

Image: Mouse Taxidermist, student work from our popular Anthropomorphic Taxidermy class. More photos here; more on the class here.

Morbid Anatomy Library Open Hours This Sunday!

This Sunday--December 11th--the Morbid Anatomy Library (seen above) will be hosting open, no-appointment-necessary drop in hours from 2 until 6 PM. So feel free to drop in for a perusal of the stacks and to meet our latest addition.

For more about the Morbid Anatomy Library and for directions and other such information, click here.

Photo of The Library by Shannon Taggart

Photographing the Dead: The History of Postmortem Photography from The Burns Collection and Archive, Monday December 5th, Observatory

Tomorrow night at Observatory! Be sure to arrive early, as this one is sure to sell out! Above are a few more of the hundreds of images that will be discussed.

Full details follow; hope to see you there!

Photographing the Dead: The History of Postmortem Photography from The Burns Collection and Archive
Illustrated Lecture and book signing with Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS of the Burns Collection and Archive
Date: Monday, December 5th
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
*** Books will be available for sale and signing; see bottom of this page for complete list of books available

Postmortem photography, photographing a deceased person, was a common practice in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These photographs, from the beginning of the practice until now, are special mementos that hold deep meaning for mourners through visually "embalming" the dead. Although postmortem photographs make up the largest group of nineteenth-century American genre photographs, until recent years they were largely unseen and unknown. Dr. Burns recognized the importance of this phenomenon in his early collecting when he bought his first postmortem photographs in 1976. Since that time he has amassed the most comprehensive collection of postmortem photography in the world and has curated several exhibits and published three books on the subject: the Sleeping Beauty series. Tonight, Dr. Burns will speak about the practice of postmortem photography from the 19th century until today and share hundreds of images from his collection.

About Sleeping Beauty: Dr. Burns’ first book on postmortem photography, Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America (1990) has been widely recognized as one of the most important photography books of all time. Sleeping Beauty has influenced an eclectic array of fields, from bereavement counseling and education to cultural anthropology, history, medicine, philosophy, religion and spirituality (not to mention pop music) and has been cited in debates on the death penalty, euthanasia and abortion. It has been the subject of numerous scholarly papers as well as seminars and exhibitions at notable institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The New Museum of Contemporary Art. A decade later the Archive published Sleeping Beauty II: Grief, Bereavement & The Family in Memorial Photography American & European Traditions in conjunction with an exhibit at the Musée d’Orsay. Sleeping Beauty III Memorial Photography: The Children, the third installment in this series was released this year to accompany a traveling exhibition.

About the Burns Collection and Archive: The Burns Collection, founded in 1975 hosts the nation's largest collection of early medical photography and has been generally recognized as one the most important private comprehensive collections of early photography (over one million photographs). The Collection is best known for images of the dark side of life: death, disease, disaster, mayhem, crime, racism, revolution, riots and war. Dr. Burns has authored forty-three photo-historical texts and curated more than fifty photographic exhibitions. He is a founding donor of several museum photography collections, including the J. Paul Getty Museum and The Bronx Museum of the Arts. In addition to being an internationally distinguished author, curator, historian, collector, publisher, and archivist, Dr. Burns is a New York City ophthalmologist and Clinical Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center. The Burns Archive produces publications, exhibitions, and manages image licensing for the Burns Collection. To find out more, you can visit the Burns Archive Blog, website, or press website.

These Burns Archive titles will be available for sale and signing:
Sleeping Beauty III Memorial Photography: The Children $36
Sleeping Beauty II: Grief, Bereavement & The Family in Memorial Photography... $85
Shooting Soldiers: Civil War Medical Photography by R.B. Bontecou $50
News Art: Manipulated Photographs from the Burns Archive $50
Deadly Intent, Crime & Punishment: Photographs from the Burns Archive $75
Seeing Insanity: Photography & The Depiction of Mental Illness $40

More on Observatory can be found here. To sign up for events on Facebook, join our group by clicking here. To sign up for our weekly mailer, click here. Directions to Observatory can be found here.

Moulage, after 1945 (original cast from 1900 to 1912), Made by the German Hygiene Museum, Dresden

Moulage depicting "Angina lacunaris," made by the German Hygiene Museum, Dresden. Click on image to see larger image. More here.

Seeking Volunteers for Grand Guignol Spectacular Next Saturday, December 10

Hi all! We are currently seeking a few volunteers to help with next Saturday's Grand Guignol Spectacular at The Coney Island Museum. We need a couple of folks to help with scene transitions during the show, and an experienced stage manager to help for the day of the show. All volunteers, of course, will be rewardd with free admission to the event!

Interested parties can email me here: morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com. More on the event can be found here.

Thanks so much and, either way, hope to see you there!

Image: From a Life Magazine story circa 1947 about the Grand Guignol entitled "Sick! A House of Horrors." More on that here. Caption reads: "Realistic throat-cutting, performed in The Hussy by honest farm lad on his depraved, scheming wife, is achieved by a trick dagger which contains 'blood' in the handle."

One Night Only! An Evening of Victorian Variety, Macabre Merriment, and Horror Live on Stage! The Grand Guignol Spectacular Tickets Now Available!

Tickets for my Grand Guignol Birthday Spectacular on December 10th at The Coney Island Museum are now available for purchase here. And, just to whet your whistle, I post above a sketch of the specially commissioned set by NYU’s Chris Muller which will frame this unforgettable evening of "Victorian Variety, Macabre Merriment, and Horror Live on Stage" (click on image to see larger, more detailed version.) If you are interested in attending, we urge you to to purchase tickets soon, as they are sure to sell out!

Full info for the event follows. Hope very much to see you there!

Grand Guignol Variety Show at The Coney Island Museum
Featuring classic Grand Guignol performances, film, toy theatre, song, dance, film and more, followed by a DJed after-party
Date: Saturday, December 10th
Time: 8:00 (doors at 7)
Admission: $25 (tickets available here)
Location: The Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn
Presented by Morbid Anatomy, Atlas Obscura and The Coney Island Museum and curated by Joanna Ebenstein & John Del Gaudio

From turn-of-the-century Paris through the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear with infamous productions featuring innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society, making it the progenitor of today’s blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking “splatter” films.

Join us on December 10th at the Coney Island Museum for a one-night-only ode to The Grand Guignol and its legacy. Our evening of variety theatre was developed in conversation with Mel Gordon, author of Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror; Participants will include Doll Parts, Meg Moseley, Robert Munn, GF Newland, Melissa Roth, Shannon Taggart, Alison Termine, Ronni Thomas, and Kathleen Kennedy Tobin with a newly commissioned set by NYU’s Chris Muller (seen above) and the role of Master or Ceremonies filled by Lord Whimsy. Projects include stagings of two classic Grand Guignol plays, a toy theater version of Bryusov’s “The Sisters,” a harmonious and creepy rendition of “Dry Bones,” and more, all followed by an after-party with music and Hendrick’s Gin cocktails courtesy of Friese Undine.

Tickets available here.

Morbid Anatomy Library Open Hours This Weekend!

This weekend--December 3rd and 4th--the Morbid Anatomy Library (seen above) will be hosting open, no-appointment-necessary drop in hours! On Saturday the 3rd, open hours will run from 12:30 to 6, and on Sunday the 4th from 3 until 6 PM. So feel free to drop in for a perusal of the stacks and to meet our latest addition.

For more about the Morbid Anatomy Library and for directions and other such information, click here.

Photo of The Library by Shannon Taggart

"Human Zoos: The Invention of the Savage," Exhibition, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, Through June 2012

Half-naked Africans made to gnaw bones and presented as "cannibals" as they shivered in a mock tribal village in northern France; Native American children displayed at fairgrounds; families from Asia and the South Pacific behind railings in European zoos and dancing Zulus on the London stage.

Paris's most talked-about exhibition of the winter opened on Tuesday with shock and soul-searching over the history of colonial subjects used in human zoos, circuses and stage shows, which flourished until as late as 1958...

--Paris show unveils life in human zoo, The Guardian, Tuesday 29 November 2011

Wow. Finally. The exhibition I have long been waiting to see (and which just might inspire a pilgrimage!)

"Human Zoos: The Invention of the Savage," now on view at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris through June 2012, "brings together hundreds of bizarre and shocking artefacts, ranging from posters for 'Male and Female Australian Cannibals' in London... to documentation for mock villages of 'Arabs' and 'Sengalese'" in the recounting of the under-discussed history of "exotic" humans on display from the 19th through the mid 20th Century. These kinds of display were prevalent not only abroad but also here in the United States, where they could be seen at sites ranging from World's Fairs to museums to Coney Island, as explored in the exhibit The Great Coney Island Spectacularium (on view through this summer).

More about the exhibit, from the museum website:

HUMAN ZOOS, The invention of the savage unveils the history of women, men and children brought from Africa, Asia, Oceania and America to be exhibited in the Western world in circus numbers, theatre or cabaret performances, fairs, zoos, parades, reconstructed villages or international and colonial fairs. The practice started in the 16th Century royal courts and continued to increase until the mid-20th Century in Europe, America and Japan.

A wide array of paintings, sculptures, posters, postcards, movies, photographs, mouldings, dioramas, miniatures and costumes provide insight on the scope of the phenomenon and on the success of the exotic performance industry, which captivated over a billion spectators who, between 1800 and 1958, marvelled at more than 35,000 individuals throughout the world.

Through 600 items and the screening of many film archives, the exhibition shows how this type of performance, when used as propaganda and entertainment, has fashioned the Western perspective and deeply influenced a certain perception of the Other for nearly five centuries.

The exhibition explores the sometimes fine lines between exotic individuals and freaks, science and voyeurism, exhibitionism and spectacle. It also questions visitors on their own contemporary biases.

While the exhibitions gradually disappear in the 30s, they have by then already had their effect, of setting a boundary between the exhibited and the spectators. Which begs the question: does that line still remain today?

Exhibition Path
Human zoos, The invention of the savage aims at giving back their name to women, men and children used as extras, circus freaks, actors and dancers, by telling their diverse and forgotten stories.

Based on research started over ten years ago (Pascal Blanchard, Human zoos: Science and Spectacle in the Age of Empire, Liverpool University Press, 2008), a corpus of several thousand documents from over 200 international museums and private collections (including the Prado Museum, the Paris Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the British Library, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, the Frankfurt historical museum, the musée du quai Branly and the private collection gathered by the Achac research group), and cross cooperation with over thirty countries, this is the first major exhibition to internationally approach what has been called the ‘human zoos’.

In a scenography inspired by the world of theatre, the exhibition historically and thematically approaches the staging of so-called ‘exotics’ or ‘freaks’, as well as the reactions to these popular scientific or avant-garde shows throughout the world. In an audio guide, Lilian Thuram provides his comments to visitors as they walk through the exhibition to view posters, photographs, sculptures and other items, putting them in their specific context.

ACT 1 - DISCOVERING THE OTHER: REPORT, COLLECT, PRESENT

The first Act features the 15th and 18th Century arrival of exotic people in Europe, and their consideration as ‘strange foreigners’, categorized in four archetypes throughout the exhibition: the savage, the artist, the freak and the exotic ambassador.

Various media reported on the parade of Brazil’s Tupinamba ‘savages’ for the royal entrance of King Henri II in 1550 in Rouen, on the arrival of Siamese ambassadors at the Court of Versailles in 1686, on the 1654 presentation of Inuits to King Frederik II in Copenhagen and on the return of Captain James Cook to England with Tahitian ‘Noble Savage’ Omai in 1774. The latter inspired a play that was presented in Paris and London for many years…

The exhibition also features a famous portrait of Antonietta Gonsalvus painted by Lavinia Fontana (1585), depicting one of the Gonsalvus children, a family of the Canary Islands known in the 16th Century for its legendary hairiness.

ACT 2 – FREAKS & EXOTICS: OBSERVE, CLASSIFY, CATEGORIZE

The early 19th Century brings the emergence of a new genre: ethnic shows. They first develop in theater cafés before spreading to larger and larger venues and being included in exhibitions and circuses.

This process of staging the difference blurs the difference between the deformed and the foreign: physical, psychological and geographical abnormalities are first staged, and then become the focus of performances.

The first ethnic and freak shows add a new dimension to popular culture by more and more regularly bringing together exotic people alongside freaks. Case in point: Saartje Baartman, nicknamed the “Hottentot Venus”, exhibited in London and Paris in the early 19th Century. She represents a new phase of the exhibition process.

The first shows fashion and structure the Western view on otherness, specifically from regions such as the various regions Europe hopes to conquer or in the process of colonizing.

In the early stages of imperial colonization, theories arise on the classification and organization of humanity and on the concept of race: an academic way of thinking that marked humanities throughout the 19th century.

ACT 3 – THE SPECTACLE OF DIFFERENCE: RECRUIT, EXHIBIT, SHARE

Between 1870 and WWII, many venues start specializing in ethnic performance as the Crystal Palace, Barnum and Bailey in Madison Square, the Paris Folies Bergères or the famous Panoptikum in Berlin. It is the time of the professionalization of the activity, and exotic performance morphs into mass entertainment.

Visitors are introduced to “actors of savageness” who become true genre professionals: Aboriginals, ‘lip-plate women’, Amazons, snake charmers, Japanese tightrope walkers or oriental belly dancers, but also the first black clown in France called “Chocolat” and drawn by Toulouse-Lautrec and legendary Buffalo Bill, whose show revolves on the native American Indian archetype, which forever brands the Far West imagery.

Unbeknownst to them, audiences encounter made-up ‘savages’. Generally paid, the exhibited actively participate in building the imagery.

ACT 4 – STAGING: EXHIBIT, MEASURE, PROFILE

Reconstructed ethnic villages, zoos, colonial and international fairs, science and spectacle merge in multiple places. Exotic peoples and physical strangeness are brought together on stage as if they both equally represented the realm of abnormality.

Excess, grandeur and ephemeral reconstructions characterize this section of the exhibition with posters and painted dioramas, film ,screenings, photographs, automates and postcards.

The practice starts in public gardens, following the one in Paris which, in 1877, is the first in Europe to exhibit tribes and groups. Such exhibitions lead to the invention of travelling Villages, like Carl Hagenbeck’s. Major tours start in 1874, and in 1878 until the 30s, international and colonial fairs include an exotic dimension to their programs.

While this trend primarily hits Europe, it also reaches America, Japan and the colonies themselves (Australia, India and Indochina), and attracts hundreds of million visitors.

You can also read the entire article from which the introductory quote was drawn by clicking here. More can be found on the museum website by clicking here. For more on The Great Coney Island Spectacularium, click here.

Thanks so much to my buddy John Troyer for sending this along.

Bottom two images from News.com.au. Captions: Top: Nineteenth century models of heads of Botoduco men on display in Human Zoos: The invention of the savage. Picture: AFP; Bottom: Busts of an English man, a Chinese man, an Algerian man and a Brazilian man as part of Human zoos, The invention of the savage. Picture: AFP

Four Open Slots for Tonight's Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class!

Four slots have just opened up for tonight's anthropomorphic mouse taxidermy class with Susan Jeiven class at Observatory! Full details follow; if interested in attending, please email me ASAP at morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com. Emails will be considered in the order received.

Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Susan Jeiven: Back by Popular Demand
Date: TONIGHT Tuesday, November 29th
Time: 7 PM-11 PM
Admission: $60
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

Anthropomorphic taxidermy–the practice of mounting and displaying taxidermied animals as if they were humans or engaged in human activities–was a popular art form during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The best known practitioner of the art form is British taxidermist Walter Potter who displayed his pieces–which included such elaborate tableaux as The Death of Cock Robin, The Kitten Wedding, and The Kitten Tea Party–in his own museum of curiosities.

Tonight, please join Morbid Anatomy and taxidermist, tattoo artist and educator Susan Jeiven for a beginners class in anthropomorphic taxidermy. All materials–including a mouse for each student–will be provided, and each class member will leave at the end of the day with their own anthropomorphic taxidermied mouse. Students are invited to bring any miniature items with which they might like to dress or decorate their new friend; some props and miniature clothing will also be provided by the teacher. A wide variety of sizes and colors of mice will be available.

No former taxidermy experience is required.

Also, some technical notes:

• We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
• Everyone will be provided with gloves.
• All animals are disease free.
• Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone.
• All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class. All mice used are feeder animals for snakes and lizards and would literally be discarded if not sold.
• Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class

More information can be found here. Mouse shown above was created in our last class, created by attendee Ronni Ascagni. More mice from that class can be found here.

Call for Work for 2nd Annual Morbid Anatomy Holiday Fair, December 17th and 18th

This year, Morbid Anatomy will be teaming up with our sister spaces Observatory and Proteus Gowanus to host a 2-day holiday fair over the weekend of December 17th and 18th, from 12-6. If any of you local artists, craftspeople, photographers and/or makers of macabre, uncanny or unusual objects, artifacts, or curiosa out there are interested in selling work, please contact us at morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com for more details. Please note: in order to participate, must be able to man your own table for the duration of the event.

Image: Crocheted Skulls by Dewey Decimal Crafts, a featured seller at last year's fair. More of her work can be found here.

"Dissection as Studio Practice" Illustrated Lecture and Studio Art Class with Artist Laura Splan at Observatory

I am super excited to be announcing the upcoming class "Dissection as Studio Practice" at Observatory on Sunday, January 8th. I met the teacher--Laura Splan--at a conference many years back now. Since then, I have been a big fan of her work, a few examples of which can be seen above, including--top to bottom-- an installation view of her current solo show Reformulations; a blood-on-watercolor composition entitled "Elaborative Encoding"; and 3 images from her "Doilies"series of 2004, a set of computer machine embroidered doilies with the design of each doily based on a different viral structure; pictured here, top to bottom: Herpes, Sars, and Influenza.

This class--open to all experience levels--will "survey the use of dissection in contemporary art practice through an illustrated lecture, discussion and collaborative art project"; it will also provide a terrific opportunity to work with an accomplished and sophisticated conceptual artist while gaining insight into process and method behind the creation of iconic and powerful works dealing with dissection and the body. I, for one, simply cannot wait!

Full description of the class follows. Class size is limited; if interested, be sure to RSVP via email to morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com. You can see more of Laura Splan's work by clicking here. Hope very much to see you there!

CLASS: Dissection as Studio Practice
Lecture and Studio Art Class with artist Laura Splan
Date: Sunday, January 8th
Time: 1-4 PM
Fee: $60
*** Class size is limited to 20; please RSVP to morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com

This class will survey the use of dissection in contemporary art practice through an illustrated lecture, discussion and collaborative art project. We will examine the conceptual and cultural significance of cutting, excavating, disassembling, labeling, observing and displaying “bodies.” The lecture will present a brief history of dissection as well as work by contemporary artists exploring imagery, tropes and methods of dissection. The collaborative project will be a fun and lively hands on exploration of the meaning of dissection in a work of art. Participants should bring an object, artifact or specimen to “dissect” for the group exercise. Additional supplies, tools and materials will be provided. No prior art training is required.

Laura Splan is a Brooklyn based visual artist. Her mixed media work explores historical and cultural ambivalence towards the human body. She was recently a Visiting Lecturer at Stanford University where she taught “Art and Biology” in the Art & Art History Department. She has been a Visiting Artist at the New York Academy of Sciences, California College of Art, San Francisco Art Institute, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Cal Arts. She curates the visual portal DomesticatedViscera.com. Images of her artwork can be found on her website: LauraSplan.com.

You can contact Laura through her website with any questions about the class by clicking here.

If you are interested in signing up for this class, please email me at morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com. To see more of Laura Splan's fantastic work, click here. This class is one of the newest installments in the series newly termed The Morbid Anatomy Artist Academy; to find out more about that--including a full class list thus far--click here.